vBulletin 5 or vBulletin 4 Skins?

[Dominic]

Hello everyone,

Some of you may know me, I was the owner of a successful vBulletin skin store called That1Design known for Premium and Custom vBulletin Skins.

I sold that website sometime last year and the new owner let it go offline since then which wasn't what I planned for.

I'm looking to get back into the skinning community to offer both Pre-Made and Custom skins and many other services I have ideas for.

I noticed that the vBulletin 5 Skin market is still quite small compared to vBulletin 4 and many skin providers are not skinning for it so I'm curious to see what version of vBulletin people would love seeing new skins for?

I've attached a poll in this thread, please vote as it would help me make a decision on where to put the most focus on first.

Thank you,
Dominic

[BirdOPrey5]

I can tell you as a support rep we sometimes get questions from customers asking if we know any VB5 skin designers, so there are people looking.

[ForceHSS]

Why not do both as many still use vb4 more and with more picking vb4 in the poll many agree

[Dominic]

Originally Posted by ForceHSS

Why not do both as many still use vb4 more and with more picking vb4 in the poll many agree

Thank you for your feedback, I actually will be supporting both but I am just determining what version I'll be releasing the first batch with and go from there.

As there is a lack in vBulletin 5 skins, I will be bringing a lot of fresh designs for that version as well.

Thanks a lot,
Dominic

[TheAdminMarket]

If you give a look at:
http://themeforest.net/category/forums/vbulletin
you can get a global idea on how the styles market works.

1.- There is only one style for vB5, but I can say that 126 sales is a good number.

2.- There are also 8 styles for vB4. One of them 938 sales, another one has 700. As I've bought both of them, I can say that the one with 700 sales is better. Then why the other has 35%+ more sales.

The answer is simple. Because it mimisks the rensponsive design. vB4 does not support rensponsive design, but even a style which gives that feeling will get some points more.

Other than this, and because you said that you've worked in the past for vBulletin, prepare yourself for a big disappointment. vBulletin market has shrinked so much last years. Even to free scripts/styles. Give a look in the installations and you'll understand it.

[napy8gen]

Welcome back Dominic. How much you sold That1Design? I try to sell sultantheme.com and no one wants it ..haha. So I continue selling vbulletin skins. I have 27 vb5 styles to date :P

[Dominic]

Originally Posted by NickTheGreek

If you give a look at:
http://themeforest.net/category/forums/vbulletin
you can get a global idea on how the styles market works.

1.- There is only one style for vB5, but I can say that 126 sales is a good number.

2.- There are also 8 styles for vB4. One of them 938 sales, another one has 700. As I've bought both of them, I can say that the one with 700 sales is better. Then why the other has 35%+ more sales.

The answer is simple. Because it mimisks the rensponsive design. vB4 does not support rensponsive design, but even a style which gives that feeling will get some points more.

Other than this, and because you said that you've worked in the past for vBulletin, prepare yourself for a big disappointment. vBulletin market has shrinked so much last years. Even to free scripts/styles. Give a look in the installations and you'll understand it.

Thanks for your feedback! While I will be working with vBulletin, I'll also be offering the skins for several other forum platforms out there as well. In regards to responsive, for vBulletin 4 I would be including a matching Mobile Style with each skin. As vBulletin 5 is already responsive, those skins would be responsive.

Thanks,
Dominic

[Paul M]

A few things to consider.

There are currently a lot more vB4 sites then vB5.
However, many of them have been around a long while and dont need new styles.

Since vB4 isnt being developed anymore, any new style you create is unlikely to require many changes for future releases.
Again, since vB4 isnt being developed anymore, its user base will dwindle over time, however, atm, many people still prefer to start a new site with vB4 rather than vB5.

Since vB5 is still being developed, any vB5 style you create may need extensive changes when a new version is released (for example, many responsive changes in 5.1.7).

[webmastersun]

I don't think it has more different between vb4 and vb5 theme, it depends what you will do for your theme.

[fionix]

We are looking desperatly for someone who build VB5 templates - the only one we found vbstyles.com seems to be dead business!